Rules: Heat

Don't Get Caught

In the Shadows, one of the worst things a runner can do is get noticed. But sometimes, the problem is getting noticed right now, sometimes the problem is getting traced back to where you live. This means that the most important thing is to keep a low profile, stay to the shadows, and keep up your cover identities.

Characters gain Heat when they do one of the following:

• Broadcast a SIN while *legal* security (corporate, national, and so on) forces are able to read it, and are aware you are a threat (even if they become aware later)
• Introduce yourself by a name listed on a SIN to a legal security force
• Introduce yourself by a runner name with more than 3 notoriety or public awareness to forces on the lookout for Shadowrunners
• Driving dangerously
• Mass Casualty Event
• Be caught on camera or a biometric test by a group who have your Records on File

A character gains 7-SIN rating Heat for the SIN Heat, the higher of the name's Notoriety or Public Awareness, 0 from driving dangerously, 1 from Records on File, and massive casualties cause 1 Heat per ten deaths. Add 1 to the Heat of SINs or driving in an A or AA zone. Add 2 in an AAA zone.

The GM can give someone Heat whenever they fail a Con, Sneaking, Impersonation, Palming (of a Forbidden item, or Unlicensed Restricted item) test. The GM can also give Heat when someone is perceived on the Matrix while they have Overwatch (even inside a Host). In both cases, the failure of the roll is negated, but the net successes are added to the runner as Heat. heat is added to the runner making the roll, plus any helpers.

Example: Malta is walking through a Stuffer Shack broadcasting the SIN of Jason Briggs, after about 10 minutes he walks into the alley out back to meet with a Trance Dealer. The Dealer turns out to be wearing a wire, and Malta has to book it to avoid a fight with Knight Errant. Even though Malta turned off his SIN when he went to the back alley, he still gains Heat since KE checks the Stuffer Shack records for what SINs were in use.

Example: STAtiC is in poker game with a member of the Mafia, with an ante of a single Booster Cloud, but a pot containing several Booster Chips and Clouds. She is working, and the Mafia knows that their recent kidnapping of an Ancient lieutenant is going to come to bite them. That means that when StATic introduces herself, she is immediately made as a possible threat due to being a notorious Shadowrunner and gains Heat.

Example: Silk is walking into a swanky party, which requires a SIN. She puts on her best dress, and a solid SIN. Unfortunately, throughout the night, she's going to be talking to a lot of people, meaning that she gains Heat for introducing herself.

Heat in Action

When characters get Heat on a run, they get no immediate effects. Heat isn't really important while on the run (so it's free, neh?), but it's hell while trying to relax!

Therefore, don't care about new Heat until the payout. Once you're paid, or the run is over and the runners are poorer, check out how much Heat everyone has. Go into a Getaway.

The process for the Getaway is:

• Narration - each player needs to explain how they are helping with the getaway.
• The Lead - as a result of the narration, a lead for the getaway is chosen
• Die Pools - each player then needs to specify a single skill that they can roll as a result of how they are helping
• The Final Roll - the group rolls a single die pool, each person helping the leader, and reduce the Heat from each runner by the number of successes
• Apply Heat - once Heat has been removed, assign additional Heat evenly between available Heat Sinks. with the GM choosing how non-even splits go.

In order to apply Heat to a Heat Sink, that Sink much have come into play during the Run.

For example, if you contact a contact during the run, then you may place Heat into that contact, or if you hide at a specific location, you can add Heat to that Lifestyle.

Example: StaTIC, Silk, and Malta are driving away from an Ares Blacksite where they fought a modified cyberzombie enhanced with a bug spirit. Silk leads the getaway by driving the car. She spends the majority of the time working on getting the car into traffic so that the Knight Errant team can't easily sort through the amount of noise in highway traffic. In order to keep that going STATiC decides to work with the rotating ID on the van, making the rotating happen only when no one is looking, making it harder for people to trace. Malta works on building a Fall Team, they had gone in and been nearly caught, and Malta forges some clues to add to the incident report, just to make it more confusing about who pulled off the run.

Malta rolls Logic+Forgery, StATic rolls Logic+Electronic Warfare, and Silk, with the support, rolls Charisma+Pilot Groundcraft. Even though these aren't fully related, they all give help to the final roll.

Heat On Contacts

Contacts can hold Heat without problems up to their loyalty. Once their loyalty is exceeded then they roll Heat divided by Connection rating (round up), every downtime period, if they get a success, they are compromised the next time they are used.

Contact Heat is hard to reduce, but spending a week of downtime aiding the contact dealing with their Heat reduces their Heat by one.

Personal Heat

The runner can hold up to their Street Cred in Heat before being considered dangerous in their community. Every time they meet someone from their home community, or spend downtime living in a place where they are known by the local community, roll their Personal Heat - Street Cred. If they get a success then the person they are meeting is mad at them for bringing problems to the community, or they have a problem with gangs or law enforcement (Corporate or otherwise) during the downtime.

If a player spends a Month of Downtime they can reduce Personal Heat by their Charisma.

Lifestyle Heat

A lifestyle can hold a number of Heat without problems equal to its Security rating. Once the Lifestyle has more Heat than Security then it is considered Compromised. A Compromised lifestyle is revealed to one organization hunting the character. Once a lifestyle is compromised, it cannot be uncompromised, but its Heat resets to 0, where it can be compromised a second time.

Heat on a Lifestyle can be reduced with a week of downtime and a roll on: Intuition+Area Knowledge, Charisma+Etiquette (Corporate), Logic+Hacking, Logic+Sneaking. Reduce the Heat by 1 for every (1000¥ - 100¥ per success on the roll) spent.

Example: StATIc is trying to manage Lifehaven so it doesn't get compromised as its her main home. She rolls Logic+Hacking and gets 8 successes, she then spends 600¥ and reduces the Heat by 3.

SIN Heat

A SIN can hold a number of Heat equal to its Rating. Once a SIN has a rating above its value then it is Compromised. Reveal the value of the SIN to an enemy of the runner, and then reset Heat to 0.

Heat on a SIN can be reduced by spending 2 days per week for 3 months working on the SIN. The Heat is reduced by successes Logic+[Knowledge Skill related to Security procedures] roll. It can also be reduced by a bribe to an involved official. Reduce the Heat by the magnitude of the Bribe (minimum 50¥). 10¥-99¥ is 2 Heat, 100¥-999¥ is 3 Heat, 1000¥-9999¥ is 4 Heat and so on, only one Bribe can be furnished every 3 months.

Notoriety and Heat

Any Heat can be turned into Notoriety, no matter the kind of Heat Sink it's using. Heat changes into Notoriety at a rate of 4 Heat per gained Notoriety.